


Through the Dark Road

by TheTragicNoir



Series: Chronicles of Remnant: Team JAQK [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Action/Adventure, Chases, Fear, Gen, Mystery, Nature, Personal Growth, Road Trips, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Secrets, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-08-28 21:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16731258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTragicNoir/pseuds/TheTragicNoir
Summary: After wasting time on a mission without risk, the rest of Team SSSN decided to come back to Mistral to report it, but their only method of transportation was an old wagon. Something that SSSN wouldn't expect the dangers while trying to reach their destination by fighting any obstacles and discovering what fears is. This is one of many other stories in Remnant.





	1. Far & Away

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.  
> Update: Hi, my editor helped me to make a lot of changes so there's a lot that wasn't on the original. I'm sure it would be more enjoyable now.

“No respect! Do you hear me? No respect!” A blue-haired guy with goggles yelled at the two other guys walking next to him. They were walking down an empty road that was heading to Mistral.

“You’re exaggerating, Neptune.” The guy with green hair and wing tattoos on his chest replied.

“I’m not exaggerating! We lost our ride back to Haven Academy because you two morons overslept!” Neptune kept yelling at his teammates while holding a map.

“Sage is right. We overslept because we spent the whole night patrolling a village when there wasn’t any Grimm attacking.” The last one in the group tried to justify his and his friend’s actions. He looked fairly handsome with his red hair and a huge bang that covered his right eye.

“I wanted to make sure we weren’t slacking off, Scarlet. If Headmaster Lionheart assigned us on the council’s behalf, then it surely must be an important mission.”

“Not to be a contrarian or anything, but I feel we wasted a lot of time trying to protect that village. Lionheart probably got his info wrong or something.” Sage spoke while trying to reason with Neptune. He wasn’t listening at all due to how focused was on the map.

“Speaking of Lionheart, did you notice he was acting a little odd lately?” Scarlet asked while carrying some of their luggage.

“What do you mean by ‘odd’?” Sage was curious about Scarlet’s statement.

“As in maybe, he was afraid or something. Do you think the council is putting too much pressure on him?”

“We don’t know. Since Sun isn’t here with us, we must compensate for our low performances by doing as many missions as possible.”  Neptune tried to reaffirm his authority, which none of his teammates took seriously. They kept walking next to the road, surrounded by trees. It’s already been an hour or so when they departed from said village.

The area felt empty until they heard a horse dragging a wagon. There was an older adult in rags driving it with two more passengers sitting on the back. Sage stuck his thumb up on the road to ask for a ride. The wagon began to slow down until it finally stopped next to the group of Huntsmen.

“Well, what can I do for you, gentlemen?” The Wagoner asked the team. He looked like someone in his early 60’s at best. He was wearing some old clothes and a straw hat.

“Hello, sir, sorry to trouble you, but my teammates and I would like to get a ride to Mistral if you wouldn’t mind,” Sage spoke for the team.

“Mistral…? I’m not so sure. I was heading in a different direction.” The Wagoner was feeling insecure about the team’s destination. “Tell you what, I can take you somewhere close to Mistral’s Main Entrance if you think that’s good enough. Also, you will have to pay 100 Lien per person.”

“That won’t be much of a problem.” The team paid for their ride with no complaints, but Neptune frowned at the method of transportation.

“Today’s your lucky day. I would normally ask you for 150 Lien, but I’m giving you a discount for Huntsmen in training.” The Wagoner said in a jokingly manner despite it not being funny whatsoever. Sage sat next to the old man while Scarlet and Neptune sat in the wagon’s back.

Some passengers were already sitting on one side with an adorable husky sitting in between them. One had a black cowboy hat and long black coat with feathers on his shoulders. He looked pretty reserved and quiet, but he had an uneasy presence surrounding him. He gave off this feeling that you maybe don’t want to be near him, at least for Neptune.

The other passenger had a much warmer appearance. She had long red hair and green eyes. She was dressed in a brown jacket and a red long-skirt. The woman was petting the husky, so Neptune quickly assumed it was her pet. Neptune had his eyes fixed at her. She was really attractive. Sage and Scarlet were curious. There was something vaguely familiar about her looks.

Everyone already took their seats, and the wagon set off on the road. They rolled out at a slow pace since the horse was old and had a rather slim body. It was quite surprising that it was able to pull a wagon with six people without any issues. “I must warn you. It may take about two days before we get anywhere close to Mistral.” The Wagoner explained to everyone how long the trip would be. “Oh, and more thing, you can call me Gus. If you need anything but first-class snacks during this trip, let me know.”

After hearing Gus’ explanations, they kept quiet on the trip. It was relaxing how the soft wind was blowing in their direction, how the leaves were shaking in a gentle manner. That kind of scenery would make anyone appreciate nature a bit more because of how peaceful feeling.

“This scenery looks nice, doesn’t it?” Neptune started talking to the girl sitting in front of him.

“It is… I can see some of the cherry blossoms in the distance.” She replied while looking at the woods.

“Are you familiar with those?” Neptune asked.

“For the most part, I’m not familiar with the whole area or even Mistral.”

“Oh? You know, when we get there I can give you a tour around the city if you’re interested.” Neptune said in a flirty tone as his teammates listened in with a ‘here we go again’ expression on their faces.

“Are you…hitting on me?” She replied while raising an eyebrow.

“Well…I wouldn’t say that, but you are just so beautiful that it’s impossible not to invite you.” Neptune was smooth-talking her, something that Scarlet and Sage started to bet on each time it happened.

“Oh that’s sweet, but sadly, I already have a sweetheart.” She said with a smirk on her face.

“I-is that so? Who..?” The blue-haired was disappointed after hearing that. Scarlet handed Sage 50 Lien after hearing that.

“Him.” The girl began wrapping her arms around the cowboy. He reciprocated her feelings by hugging her with his left arm. Neptune started sweating profusely while his teammates just snickered at he just screwed up big time. Schadenfreude at it’s finest.

“R-really!? Sorry, I had no idea. I…” Neptune tried to apologize, as he was hoping not to get into a fight with the menacing cowboy.

“Oh, don’t worry; he’s not a jealous guy.” The woman said with a cheeky tone, reassuring Neptune to put him at ease. “That’s because I don’t like to be on hit by other people.” Her eyes became fierce. Now Neptune was more afraid of her instead.

She started pulling his goggles as far as the rubber would allow. She then quickly let them go. Neptune got hit right in the eyes by his goggles, which made his teammates burst out in laughter.

“Next time, you should be more careful about who you flirt with. You don’t know if the next person will humiliate you more than me.” She was pretty serious, but oddly enough, it made the cowboy crack a smile beneath his scary facade. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, it’s just that he kind of reminds me of Ace.” The cowboy spoke with an unsettling smile.

“Well, the difference between this nerd and Ace is that Ace at least knows how to pick them without getting himself in trouble.”

“Excuse me, but I’m not a nerd, I’m an intellectual.” Neptune tried to correct her. She rolled her eyes.

“Intellectual?” The cowboy asked with curiosity.

“It’s a cooler way to say, hopeless nerd,” Sage replied while holding in his laughter.

“Oh shut up…” Neptune was starting to feel embarrassed and annoyed by Sage’s comment.

“Don’t get upset, Nep. You know you are still the smartest one on the team, nothing bad about calling yourself a nerd.” Scarlet patted Neptune on the back, even though they were making fun of him moments earlier.

“Being called a ‘nerd’ would make you look a lot more confident in front of the ladies.”

“So what’s the big deal about being called a nerd?” The cowboy interjected.

“What are you talking about?” Neptune was confused by his response.

“It doesn’t matter what they call you as long as you have the skills to show people what you’re capable of.” The cowboy’s words of wisdom made Neptune reflect a little. He wasn’t sure if it could be applied to him, but he felt that the cowboy didn’t consider him to be a loser. “I could be wrong. It’s just more about actions than fancy words.”

“I’ll think about it…umm. What’s your name?” Neptune asked. The cowboy was kind of hesitant to answer.

“My name doesn’t matter, to be honest.”

“Is there at least something I can call you? Like a nickname or something?” Neptune kept insisting. Neither the cowboy nor the girl was sure how to reply to him.

“I’m Ulysses, and this is Penelope.” He finally responded.

“And this wonderful girl here is Saber.” Penelope introduced her dog’s name, which the dog barked with happiness. “Don’t worry she doesn’t bite… mostly.” She drew a devious smile, which made Scarlet a little uncomfortable.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sage Ayana.”

“Scarlet David, nice to meet you two.”

“And I’m Neptune Vasilias. We are Team SSSN.” Everyone was done with the introductions, but Ulysses noticed something odd about them.

“So you are a team, huh? Aren’t there usually four in a team?” He asked while the rest of the team gave each other saddened looks.

“Yeah, the thing is that our leader, Sun Wukong, went to Menagerie by himself,” Sage explained their situation.

“Why?” Penelope asked.

“He chased after the girl he had a crush on after the Fall of Beacon. He said that she was going back home. I think the feeling was mutual for her too.” Scarlet went more into detail about it.

“Wait, did you say Menagerie? So she is a Faunus. Wouldn’t he be in trouble too if he traveled to a Faunus-only island?” Ulysses was curious about their leader’s actions. Penelope thought he was rather romantic going after her, even risking his life.

“Ah, don’t worry, Sun is a Faunus too. Although I don’t think humans traveling to that island would be in any real danger. They probably wouldn’t feel comfortable walking around.” Neptune pointed at their leader’s actions. So far, it was just those three trying their best to be a better team without him. It was hard for them since the Fall of Beacon.

“I see, well we hope he’s alright.”

“We hope so,” Sage said to Penelope, feeling weary, mostly due to the last few days.

After they were done talking, everyone minded their own business: Scarlet and Neptune were discussing trivial stuff like how Sun ruined Scarlet’s study desk once, with Neptune when they were messing around. Sage was talking with Gus and helped him with the navigation. Penelope was petting Saber while brushing her fur. Ulysses was quiet as he wrote something in a small journal.

The trip was definitely enjoyable for the most part. They wished that they could get better transportation, but they didn’t care at the moment. The sun was starting to hide. It was 6:30 PM, and the sky was getting a bright orange tone. It was a shame the day didn’t end peacefully.

“Easy, boy!” Gus was slowing down the wagon until it stopped. He saw a tree trunk blocking the road. “Well will you look at that, would  any of you lend a hand with this?” Gus asked the passengers for ideas on how to remove the trunk.

“I’ll help…It won’t require more than one person to destroy it.” Ulysses left the wagon to inspect the obstacle on the road. Its diameter was pretty long. It would require a powerful tool to cut it in half. Before he could take off his right glove, everyone started hearing strange noises coming from the woods.

“Did you hear that?” Sage asked everyone else on the wagon. They started drawing their weapons. Saber was growling while standing in front Penelope, trying to protect her from any possible danger. They tried to cover each other’s backs by forming a circle to protect the wagon.

They couldn’t see anything. The woods looked empty, no matter how open their eyes were. Ulysses caught something out in the distance. He swiftly moved his head slightly, to avoid getting his head blown off. “Bandits, I should have guessed.” He sighed as he joined the rest of the group in protecting the wagon.

Unsurprisingly for him, people were jumping out of the bushes with weapons in their hands. There were 14 of them clad in torn outfits and some very withered weapons. Despite their numbers, they looked unprepared for a fight. “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” One bandit with an unkempt beard and messy long hair approached the ambush. Every time he made a creepy smile, they could see he was missing one tooth.

“What do you want?” Neptune demanded the answer while aiming his weapon.

“What else do you think we want? Everything you have, of course!” The bandit started looking at the old wagon. There was nothing of value except for one thing. “Oh, who’s this beauty behind you?” The creep started looking at Penelope, much to her disgust.

Ulysses took one step forward, blocking the creepy bandit from looking at his girlfriend. “What? Is she your girl? Why don’t you just go your own way before my friends break your face, fella?”

“Your friends? Are you too afraid to do it yourself?” The cowboy replied, much to the bandit’s annoyance.

“What did you say!?”

“Are you deaf, stupid toothless creep? I said… are you that much of a chicken that you’d rather leave your pets to do all the dirty work?” Ulysses spoke with a loud and clear tone, something that some of the bandits were starting to whisper. The toothless bandit was feeling the pressure.

“You bastard…!” The creep ran towards the cowboy to stab him with his weapon. The cowboy didn’t move from his position and left himself open for the attack. In the blink of an eye, the bandit stopped after noticing the cowboy was no longer in front of him. Everyone was perplexed.

“Listen up, vermin. Why don’t you bunch of yacks leave us alone before I start breaking bones? Bandits like you are nothing but nuisances!” He warned every bandit in the area. The creep heard the cowboy was already standing behind him. He didn’t even notice how he got there in the first place.

“How you…?” At that moment he turned to see the cowboy, he got caught with a left hook in the stomach, followed up by a right uppercut to the jaw. The strike was painfully powerful, and it sent him flying, making him lose another tooth in the process. As soon as the creep landed, he backed off while ordering the rest of the bandits to attack the group. “You made a grave mistake! We have 20 more men hiding in the woods, waiting as a backup.”

After hearing his words, Ulysses started thinking about and analyzing his opponents. “Hey, googles guy…” He started calling Neptune with a decisive tone. “Tell your teammates to scout out the woods and see if there are really 20 more bandits. You and I are gonna go deal with them.”

Neptune didn’t object on any of his instructions. The blue-haired guy told Scarlet and Sage to scatter and find the rest of the bandits. That only left Penelope and Saber to protect Gus and his wagon if any bandits got closer. They were getting closer to them, Ulysses drew his weapon and aimed. He started shooting his revolver from his hip at 2 of them. His reflexes were on par with some of the best Huntsmen around. He fired two precise shots that disarmed and destroyed some of their primitive weapons.

“What the…? Who the hell is this guy?” One of the bandits commented, their fear was slowly consuming them but still not enough to make them retreat. As they charged against them, Neptune transformed his weapon into a guandao and parried their attacks, fencing them off away from the wagon.

One bandit tried to stab Ulysses in the back, but Neptune reacted in time and kicked the bandit out of the way. The cowboy noticed the aid and gave the blue-haired guy a thumbs up. After that, Neptune grabbed one of the bandits trying to punch him and tossed him towards Ulysses.

Ulysses wasted no time and threw some heavy punches. The bandits tried to attack him from behind and front, but he just ducked, leading them to punch each other. Another bandit was approaching from his right; he stopped the bandit by grabbing him by the neck and then he threw him against two more bandits that he could spot in the distance.

A bandit girl was holding a whip with spikes went after Ulysses, wrapping his right arm with her whip. It shredded his sleeves into pieces and pulled him towards her. Neptune saw the cowboy in trouble and shooting a paralyzing charge at her. Luckily the cowboy didn’t suffer too much damage due to his Aura. Ulysses pulled on the whip with much more strength, sending her flying away from the spot she stood in.

One more bandit tried to slash the cowboy with a machete. Ulysses dodged the swings with ease. He was quick with every move he made until the bandit tricked him by striking his blind spot. The cowboy reacted and blocked the machete’s edge with his whole right hand. His weapon got stuck in between the blade and the whip still wrapping the arm.

“Sorry fella, you just got dealt a bad hand,” Ulysses said with a devilish smirk on his face. By using the palm-side of his right hand, he countered with a swift knife hand strike that cut the bandit’s machete. That move completely tore up the sleeve. To the bandits and Neptune’s surprise, Ulysses exposed his whole right arm, showing it was mechanized. The creepy bandit’s jaw dropped after discovering that he met another person with a robotic arm.

“Oh no… not again!” He aimed his gun against the cowboy, shooting him within a state of rage. Ulysses acted quick and caught the bullet with his prosthetic arm, much to the bandit’s dismay. By catching the bullet between his index finger and his thumb, the cowboy shot that bullet back at him. He targeted the bandit’s hand, which made him drop his gun on the ground.

While Neptune and his team were still dealing with the bandits, one of the bandits sneaked by trying to assault Gus and Penelope. Something he forgot was that Saber was with them. The dog bit his arm with lightning speed. Penelope acted quickly, and with two fingers, she struck the bandit’s arm.

In a matter of seconds, the bandit’s arm started to act weird as it tried to reach his back. He was completely immobilized. Saber didn’t stop fighting back and bit him again, this time biting one of his legs.

Their forces were weakening; they had nothing but fear in their hearts and were unwilling to continue fighting them. The creepy bandit tried to retrieve his gun while crawling on the ground. But before he could grab it, he slowly redirected his sight up at the cowboy. He was so afraid that he couldn’t stand up properly.

“Go ahead, take it if you dare…there is nothing stopping you.” Ulysses was in front of him, so close that the creepy bandit was still on his knees, unable to think what to do next. He was feeling desperate, not knowing if he should take the gun or get his ass kicked one more time. It was an unwinnable gamble for him.

“I…will…KILL YOU…!” At that moment he tried to grab the gun, Ulysses delivered one final move by hitting him with his knee in the face, making him lose another tooth and breaking his nose.

“Too bad, you lost the game,” Ulysses said in a bored tone, as the bandits weren’t much of a challenge for him or anyone else.

The creepy bandit was on the ground, with blood in his mouth, trying to comprehend how bad his defeat was against another person with a robotic arm. That cowboy was a monster to him. “Who…are…you!?” He asked Ulysses in terror.

“Me? I’m just a wanderer.” He offhandedly replied, which made the rest of the bandits run away as if their lives were in mortal danger. From that day on, the creepy bandit swore that he would beat any person with robotic arms for humiliating him twice in front of his group, or his name wasn’t Shay D.Mann.


	2. Fun & Tales

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

Scarlet and Sage finally returned, informing everyone that there weren’t any more bandits in the area. It took them by surprise that Neptune and Ulysses were able to defeat them so quickly. “Holy Dust…did you really beat them all?” Scarlet asked Neptune.

“Yep,” Neptune said proudly.

“You?” Sage asked, as well.

“Yes.”

“Really?” Both of Neptune’s teammates doubted him and scolded him with skeptical looks.

“Come on! Why don’t you believe me?” Neptune was dumbfounded that none of his teammates believed that he could fight well.

“Don’t be so harsh on him. He did some damage.” Ulysses interjected the team, reaffirming to them how helpful Neptune was. “Were there any more bandits?”

“Just about 3 or 4 hiding in the woods, but they weren’t much trouble. How did you know they weren’t a bigger group?” Sage asked Ulysses about his plan.

“Bandits aren’t that big on numbers. Fourteen of them ambushing us was a dead giveaway. No way they’d have enough reinforcements to back them up.” The cowboy explained in quick detail, something that team SSSN found quite noteworthy.

“I see. You wanted us to deal with loose ends.” Scarlet commented as he inspected their luggage.

“Not really, having too many people around would only make things worse for me. So, please, don’t get in my way.” Ulysses said bluntly. The rest were unamused while thinking _‘Gee, thanks for that.’_

“If you’re done chatting, how about you find a way to get this trunk out of our way before sundown?” Gus asked the group in a sarcastic tone. Ulysses began to inspect the obstacle. He noticed that his own weapon wouldn’t be enough to cut it down. While thinking about any alternatives, he noticed that Team SSSN’s weapons were no suitable for cutting trees.

Slowly raising his right hand, the cowboy tried to cut the trunk with one of his signature “Knifehand Strike,” but without any results, since the diameter was the biggest issue. “Guess I’ll have to improvise.” He said while taking a few steps back from the trunk. He aimed right hand at it with his open palm and held said hand by the wrist with his left hand.

“What are you doing!?” Penelope yelled at him, interrupting whatever he was trying to do.

“Destroying it... is there a problem?”

“Yes. Don’t waste energy on something like that!” Penelope left the wagon and walked towards her boyfriend.

“There’s no way to cut this thing down unless we have a chainsaw or something. Do you have a better idea?”

“I do. Try to cut it with your hand again.”

“I tried.”

“You didn’t try hard enough!” They started bickering like time tested the couple, keeping their hostility to a minimum. “I have a plan. Stand in front of the trunk again, and just keep facing it.”

“What are you trying to do?” Ulysses wasn’t sure of what Penelope had in mind.

“Don’t judge me. Just do what I say.” The cowboy complied and stood next to the trunk.

“Ok, now what?”

“Don’t move. I’ll handle the rest.” Her tone of voice felt devious. Ulysses just realized what she was going to do.

“Wait a sec. Are you not gonna…? Hey!” It was already too late for him. Penelope was behind Ulysses with her hand touching his back. “Wait, wait, wait…!”

“It might tickle a bit~” She held Ulysses’ shoulder with her left hand while pressing his back with the other. She was enjoying it. His prosthetic arm began to act strangely.

“Lu…Penelope, stop that!” He was hopeless. At that moment, she took full control of his whole arm as she meticulously pressed her fingers against a few different points of his back.

“KARATE-CHOP ACTION!” She yelled with excitement.

“NOOOO! AAAHH!” Ulysses’ arm was moving on its own. With a powerful movement, it chopped the whole tree in half as if it was butter. That moment left everyone with astonished eyes at how she made him do something like that: All the while touching him in a rather playful manner. One thing was certain. She was even more dangerous than him, or so at least it seemed that way.

The road was clear. Nothing was blocking it anymore, and they were free to continue with their journey.

“Oh my, that was fun,” Penelope said with a satisfactory face.

“I need… a break… please.” Ulysses was exhausted. What just happened wore him out more than fighting with the bandits.

“Well, shall we?” Gus said to the couple, everyone took their seats, and the wagon started moving again. While traveling, everyone except Gus and Saber went silent. Everyone was very cautious not to get on her wrong side. The silence didn’t last long, though. The sun began to hide behind the trees, the farther they traveled. It became darker, and even with their flashlights and lanterns they still couldn’t illuminate the road.

“We’ll take a break in about half an hour. We have to get some sleep before we can continue with our trip. Hope you got something entertaining for the campfire.” Gus told everyone as he was still driving the wagon. The passengers started looking at their luggage to find camping tools and other things. Ulysses was beginning to fall asleep. He couldn’t keep writing in his journal after the long day.

“Easy there, boy.” Gus finally stopped the wagon. They found themselves on the side of the road in a small space surrounded by trees. The spot was perfect for the night. “Alright, would you mind making some fire and getting some water for us? I heard there was a river nearby. I think it’s that way.” The old man pointed to where the river supposedly was.

Everyone had a different task: Ulysses and Sage had to gather some wood for the campfire. Scarlet had to get some buckets from the wagon and get some water from the river. While they were doing that, Neptune and Gus grabbed a pot, some vegetables and other utensils for cooking. Penelope led the horse to a different spot so she could feed it and get it ready for rest. They worked together so that they could have a safe place to stay for the night.

After several minutes, they were finally done accommodating everything around them. Ulysses used his right hand to light the campfire with the lighter built into his robotic hand. Penelope helped Gus prepare some basic stew for everyone. Everyone got comfortable and took their seats. Everyone sat around the fire, except for Ulysses, who sat next to a tree not too far from them.

Saber was resting on his left, trying to ask him for something. The cowboy began to sneeze as the dog tried to get his attention. He noticed her craving look and decided to look for something in his bag. He showed her a can of dog food to which the dog barked in delight. The cowboy opened it by cutting the can in half and put it in the bowl with her name on it. The husky started eating pretty quickly.

“Hey, Ulysses,” Neptune called him out.

“Yes?”

“May I ask you something?

“Sure.”

“How did you lose your arm?” Neptune was pretty curious as to what caused such an injury.

“That... is none of your concern.” The cowboy said it with a cold tone. It was evident he felt uncomfortable talking about it.

“S-Sorry…”

“Tell me, are you heading somewhere specific?” Sage asked instead, hoping that he could open up some talk.

“We…are about to reunite with some friends at Mistral.”

“Friends? Do you mean your teammates?” Scarlet asked.

“Kind of.”

“So you are in Huntsman team just like us?” Neptune asked as to satisfy his curiosity.

“Kind of.” He didn’t seem very talkative after what happened before, almost like he was trying to avoid their questions on purpose. The team members saw Penelope was done helping with the stew and saw her sit next to Ulysses and Saber. They wondered if she would be more open to answering some questions.

“Hey, Penelope?” Scarlet asked the red-head.

“Yes?” She replied in a casual tone.

“Have you ever been to Mistral?”

“Us? No. Never.” She said while petting Saber in her lap.

“Really? Then why are you going there?”

“Well, Ulysses is going to see some of our old friends, and I’m going to visit my father.”

“Your father? What is he doing there?” Sage asked with peaked interest.

“Doing the research, as usual,” Penelope said with a disappointed sigh.

“I see.” The team was starting to think about all that information they got. So far, they seemed like a pretty decent couple. “Do you mind if we ask something else?” Neptune asked another question. He could tell that Scarlet and Sage were thinking about the same thing.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Are you coming from Vale by any chance? Because you look really familiar.” That question gave both travelers worried faces.

“Uhhhh, nope. Why do you ask?” She almost stumbled over her words.

“Because you look pretty similar to someone we knew.”

“Who exactly did you know? I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, heh heh.” Penelope tried to smile, but she started to feel worried. Ulysses was slowly reaching for his gun without letting them notice. Neptune took his Scroll and started looking at it for a couple of seconds, tapping away to find something.

“Ah, here it is...” He finally found it. “This girl.” He showed Penelope and Ulysses a picture of a girl with the same colored hair and eyes, but she was wearing golden armor and a ponytail instead.

“Huh, she really looks like you,” Ulysses commented as he put his gun back, no longer feeling the need to worry.

“Who is she?” Penelope asked with surprise, as she was looking at her exact double. Despite never seeing her before, she felt something familiar about her too.

“Her name was Pyrrha Nikos. She was quite famous at Sanctum Academy in Argus before moving to Vale.” Neptune explained the details of Penelope’s look-alike.

“Oooh, now I remember. I think Ace mentioned something about that girl on that Pumpkin Pete’s cereal box.” Ulysses commented while cracking a smile.

“Yeah, before Quinn threw that box right to the trash.”

“Man, that sounds petty,” Scarlet said to himself about Penelope’s statement.

“But…well, it was actually hard to believe that you were she, at first,” Sage said while making a long face, just like the rest of Team SSSN.

“Why do you say that?” Ulysses asked, taking notice of their words and expressions.

“Never mind, it’s been so long since the Vytal Festival… and The Fall of Beacon.” They didn’t bother to say anything else. The mood was getting a little too depressive.

“Oh look, the stew it’s almost done. Why the long faces everyone? How about I tell you a fairy tale before serving dinner?” Gus tried to lighten up the mood. It seemed like something that everyone needed at the moment.

“Ooh, I love fairy tales. Which one are you going to tell us?” Penelope was the one with more excitement in her eyes. No one objected.

“This one’s from my homeland in Sanus. It’s right around the kingdom of Vacuo. You better pay attention.” Gus cleared his throat while everyone except Ulysses started paying attention. The old man got closer to the fire and grabbed a bag full of dirt, throwing it in the fire. The smoke started changing colors.

* * *

  _A long time ago, way before the Great War, there was a time when people cared for their own survival rather than power or dominance. Many tribes and kingdoms were doing their best to gather resources to ensure their survival in the future._

_Two tribes stood above the rest. They couldn’t stand each other. They often fought each other for food and water, but despite that, they both somehow managed to get their necessary resources from the other._

_One day, a minor disagreement led them into a conflict that not only showed their immense ego and pride but also cost them more lives than were acceptable. They were foolish; their stubborn mentality caused both of their tribes to go extinct. After the raging battles took place, only the leaders were the last ones left standing, still fueled by pride and vengeance, refusing to stop this fight until either drew their last breath._

_Their battle lasted for many months, from the start of the harsh burning summer until the end of the dark, freezing winter. They fought day and night, so long until they were no longer able to see each other apart. They became mirrors to one another._

_No families to protect, no names to be remembered, the only thing they had left was to make a promise to one another._

_Their shame brought them to make the promise, that if they were ever to be reborn, one should always hunt the other as a punishment for all the things their pride cost them._

_At the end of their pact, they both drew their weapons for the last time, and both fell in defeat with no victory in sight for either of them._

_Legend has it that until the end of all that breathes one will always hunt from the skies where the sun shines brightly, while the other will lead packs of unstoppable power to endure under the moonlight of the shattered moon... An ancient tale of pride and suffering._

_This is the story of the Eagle and the Wolf._

* * *

 Everyone remained silent after hearing the tale. While the couple was lost in thought, team SSSN was more confused and absolutely not pleased with that. “What kind of tale was that!?” Neptune complained about the story’s tone.

“Huh, this one’s my granddaughter’s favorite. I guess teenagers don’t get quite the same impression.” The old man had somewhat blurred conceptions as to what counted as a bedtime story and what counted as a tragedy. He started serving dinner to each one of them.

He served them some tasty pork with squashes, carrots, and potatoes in metal bowls for each person. The meal was quite subpar but better than most traditional camp cooking.

Team SSSN was enjoying the meal while commenting on how much better it was than what the cafeteria at Haven had to offer. Penelope was enjoying it so much that a goofy smile appeared on her face. Ulysses wasn’t impressed, thinking to himself that he tasted better stews back home. Eating dinner was delightful. The night sky full of stars brought was a sight to behold. It encompassed what life was all about for the travelers.

“Man! That hit the spot!” Sage commented as he was devouring the last bits of the stew left in his bowl.

“Heh, it really did. Even a picky eater like you can’t complain.” Neptune commented while making a smug face. Sage was unamused.

“Owww! Hot!” Scarlet burned his own tongue while eating. “Could I some water, please?” Ulysses poured a cup of water for the red-haired guy in silence. “Thanks.”

“Glad you liked it, it’s been a long time since I cooked anything for other people,” Gus said with a satisfied look on his face.

“When was that last time you did that, old man?” Ulysses asked Gus while still eating the stew.

“5 years ago, I used to cook a lot with my granddaughter.”

“And where is she now?” Penelope asked.

“Right now she’s in Mistral. Honestly, I miss her so much.” The old man’s eyes were starting to fill with deep sadness.

“Then why don’t you go visit her? I’m sure you can see her when we get to the capital.” Ulysses was curious. He was able to sense how the wagoner was feeling.

“I would love to, but I can’t.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because… I’m afraid of coming back to the city.”

“Afraid of what exactly…?” Neptune asked as well. No one suspected that such a jovial man could set such a depressive mood. Gus remained silent for an about half a minute, not saying anything until he noticed the rest of the group was concerned.

“I… never mind, forgive this old geezer for ruining the mood with his nonsense.” He tried to change of topic. He kept quietly eating the stew. The mood wasn’t getting better at all. Everyone already had enough of their problems.

Neptune was thinking of a way to lift everyone’s spirit. He tried to apply his time tested motto WWSD: What Would Sun Do? There were times when a self-proclaimed temporary leader must act to prove their mettle. “I’ve got it…” He said to himself. “Everyone, how about we play a little game?” Sage and Scarlet were reluctant to play. Penelope and Gus were curious as to what kind of game they might think off. Ulysses couldn’t care less.

“You can play without me. I’m going to sleep.” The cowboy said while covering his face with his hat. Penelope pinched his cheek before kissing him on it. Everyone quietly snickered.

“So, what kind of game are we going to play?” Penelope asked.

“We’re gonna play a little game that our leader created called _Scarlet or Scroll_...” Neptune took out his Scroll as he was about to explain the rules. “It’s fairly simple. I took three words, and I will give them to Scarlet. He has to come up with a question while I type the same three words into my Scroll’s CCTS Browser. I will then choose the most ridiculous autocomplete result. I’ll then say two results. You guys have to guess which one is from the Scroll and which one is from Scarlet.”

After Neptune was done explaining the rules, Sage began to bang two spoons against his bowl like a drum while Scarlet started typing on his device. “Scarlet or Scroll, Scroll or Scarlet, which one said it, let’s find out, hey!” Neptune sang a cheesy tune.

“I’m feeling lucky!” Scarlet followed up after the tune. Everyone burst out in laughter.

“Alright, first one…” Neptune was tapping into his device while trying to hold in his laughter. “…Can you survive…?” The blue-haired guy was trying his best not to break his composure while reading. “Can you survive inside a Grimm if you’re eaten alive?”

“What the…. hahahahaha… that sounds… so ridiculous… hahaha… but funny… hahaha… at the same time… hahaha!” Gus couldn’t stop laughing. He knew the chances of surviving were very slim to none. Chances are you’d die of the fumes the Grimm produced before you’d die of oxygen deprivation.

“I know! That sounds like such a Scarlet question. But I assume other Huntsmen would wonder the same thing.” Sage was now smiling, trying to contain his laughter.

“Alright, the other one is…Can you survive getting impaled by a rhinoceros horn?”

“Really? You call that a silly question?” Penelope chuckled at how much more tame it was compared to the prior question, but it was a bit more out of the blue compared to the other one.

“All right, time to make your choice.” Neptune was ready to give points to the person who guessed correctly. There was a lot of banter about which one was Scarlet’s. Sage and Gus went with the second one while Penelope went with the first one. “And the one who got it right is… Miss Penelope!” The blue-haired guy announced as if he was a host from a TV show.

“Ok, tell me, why do you think it’s possible even to survive that?” Sage asked the pretty boy.

“Well if you think about it, if a big Grimm eats you whole without chewing, then you’re probably still alive inside the stomach until you’re digested or until you choke.” Scarlet’s explanation sounded logical, but there were no confirmed reports of anyone ever surviving that.

“I guess we won’t ever know if it’s possible, but regardless, she wins this round.” Everyone was applauding her for getting it right on her first try. “Alright, next question is… Do you believe…Do you believe on Underground Pirates?”

“Oh please, I’m sure that one’s Scarlet, but I mean, I could be wrong,” Sage said while second-guessing his answer.

“The other one is...Do you believe someone can live without a heart?”

“That sounds dumb… it’s hard to choose.” Gus was trying his best to think. They tried to argue over the possibilities, leaving Gus to be the only one to choose the former, while Sage and Penelope agreed on the latter.

“Are you happy with your choice? ...Because the second one is Scarlet’s!” The winners of the round gave themselves a high-five. Gus was scratching his hair, wondering how a teenager would come up with such stupid questions.

“Mind explaining yourself, kid?” Gus asked.

“The thing is after the Fall of Beacon, I saw some people losing a lot of body parts, but they were using their Aura to stop the bleeding. It’s like chickens running around without a head for a very short time before dying.” Scarlet tried to explain it, but no one believed that.

“I saw some miracles in my life, but that is impossible.” Gus said while picking up everyone’s bowls. “I guess we’ve had enough fun for tonight. We better go to sleep so we can continue early in the morning.” The travelers agreed and put all their stuff away.

Team SSSN used their sleeping bags while Penelope grabbed a fuzzy blanket for her, Saber and Ulysses who was already sleeping. Gus blew out the lantern, leaving only the campfire to illuminate the area. They quickly fell asleep as the crickets sang their hypnotic melodies that cradled the group to sleep.

The night was peaceful. They slept safely in the woods until dawn.

* * *

 “Ugh… my back…” It was 7:15 in the morning. Scarlet complained while rubbing his back.

“Seriously, why did you choose a spot full of rocks?” Neptune was feeling the same. He couldn’t get enough sleep either.

“I thought it looked nice good enough.”

“It obviously wasn’t a good call, Scarlet.” Sage said while reading the latest news on his Scroll. Although Remnant was having trouble with the CCT towers after the Fall of Beacon, it was still possible to communicate within the range of the kingdoms. “What the…?” Sage’s eyes got wide open after reading the news from the Mistral News Network.

“What’s the matter?” Ulysses asked while sitting on the passenger's seat.

“Haven Academy… got invaded last night…” Everyone was in shock after hearing that the school was under attack. Team SSSN was worried sick after they read how their home went through such an attack without many Huntsmen to protect them.

“Are you serious!? Tell me it didn’t happen again!” Neptune asked in desperation after hearing this. All the travelers were starting to get painful memories from Vale, including Ulysses and Penelope.

The couple tried to remain silent, but it was hard after the experience.

“Old man…” Ulysses broke his silence. “Do you think we can get to Mistral any faster?”

“I…I’ll do my best.” Gus wasn’t hesitant. He made the horse run faster even though it made the wagon stumble on the road.

Sage kept reading the article, hoping to learn about the number of casualties or if there was any other collateral damage. Unfortunately for them, due to the lousy signal outside the city, they couldn’t get any more details. It was dreadful. They needed to get there as soon as they could.

Neptune saw everyone had fear in their eyes. Despair had invaded their minds. Even the cool-headed cowboy wasn’t able to keep his head straight. Neptune remembered that the couple had friends and family waiting for them in Mistral. Their reactions were justified. Above all, the blue-haired second-in-command started thinking about a way to cheer them up, even if it would be futile due to the disturbing news.

“Hold on a second…” He realized something interesting between Sage’s news and their experience at Beacon. Not everything was all lost. “Come on, everyone! There’s still some time!”

“How can you be so sure?” Ulysses asked, trying his best to maintain his composure.

“If we were able to get some news about the situation, that means the CCT tower wasn’t destroyed, and probably the rest of the city didn’t suffer anything big.” Everyone started to regain some sense of hope, even if the uncertainty about Mistral’s safety was still questionable.

The cowboy got a familiar sensation, something he didn’t hear for two years. Even if he knew Neptune wasn't honest about the situation, he knew it was necessary for everyone’s sake. _‘Heh, what a fool.’_ Ulysses thought as he drew a weak smile.

After traveling at full speed, Gus made an abrupt stop when they reached an old bridge.

“Hey, what’s the holdup!?” Sage asked the passengers accidentally hit each other after the sudden brake.

“We must continue on foot. This old bridge might collapse if we continue with everyone still in the wagon.” Gus explained while leaving his seat and grabbing the horse’s rope to lead it as a precaution. The rest of the travelers did the same, leaving only their luggage with the exception of their weapons in the wagon.

They started walking towards the bridge, going uphill as the abnormal gusts of wind blew in the distance. Much to their surprise, a person was sitting on the ground, emanating a menacing presence. This being was a wearing pure white combat outfit that covered every inch of their skin. The most threatening part was the gas mask resembling one that a plague doctor would wear. There was no doubt; this person would be nothing but trouble for them.

“Do you mind? You’re blocking our path.” Ulysses was the first one of the group to speak up.

The person didn’t respond. Ulysses looked at the mysterious figure and analyzed everything about said person. Between the body language, height, and clothes, it was easy to confirm that it was a male adult. From his clean clothes, he deduced that he wasn’t a bandit, but he definitely wasn’t a Huntsman either.

“You…” He spoke with a voice synthesizer that was embedded in his mask. “You should be more polite when asking a stranger to do something.”

“Stranger? You don't fool me…” Ulysses was getting in position to make a quick draw. “How long have you been following us?” Everyone was surprised after hearing that. The stranger on the road slowly stood up with a firm posture.

“So, you already knew about my presence, huh? Pretty perceptive…” He extended both of his arms into an imposing pose, revealing his hidden blades that appeared from his wrists. “Since we finally meet each other, I should introduce myself. It’s the polite thing to do.” Everyone got their weapons ready, in case he did anything funny. “You can call me Sal. I’m here to exterminate the plague of this world — no need to present yourself, cowboy. I know who you are. You’re The Plague of Remnant: Jack Spades!”

Everyone opened their eyes wide in shock and glanced at the cowboy. The mysterious young man whom they referred to as Ulysses was suddenly attacked by the man named Sal, who lunged at him with a quick long jump that he concluded by striking his blades at the young cowboy. The cowboy parried his attack with his robotic arm, all the while aiming his revolver with his left hand at the enemy. Whoever this guy was after, it was a guarantee that no one traveling beside him was safe.

**The Mysterious Stalker:**

** Sal **


	3. Hunter & Hunted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

“Not bad, you reacted faster than I expected.” The mysterious assassin named Sal complimented the swift cowboy. He was trying to strike him in the face with both of his hidden blades, but Ulysses quickly blocked them with his right arm and countered by drawing a revolver from his left. The assassin saw what he was planning to do and in response, aimed both his wrists at his head.

Although the blades didn’t reach his face, the cowboy heard a weird clicking sound coming from them. He quickly kicked the stalker away from him. At that exact moment, two gunshots went off. The bullets went flying, so close to his face that he barely dodged them. He picked up on the fact that not only did the assassin have blades but also guns. Judging by his fighting style and his weapons of choice, those skills he displayed were those of a professional Huntsman.

“Impressive…I couldn’t expect any less from the Plague himself.” The stalker was standing, unmovable from his place while reloading his guns.

“I’m no one special. I’m just a wanderer. Nothing else!” The cowboy was on the defensive while he changed the slug rounds in his revolver into shotgun shells.

“Of course, you are someone. You are Jack Spades. You are the only one I was born to kill.” Sal’s voice was getting raspier and more malevolent under that ominous mask. The members of Team SSSN came to the cowboy’s aid. “I should warn you, this issue between the Plague and I shouldn’t concern you. I suggest you leave before any of you sustain injuries that are… badly beyond recovery.”

“We don’t care what the big deal is. We won’t let you murder anyone!” Neptune stepped in front of the cowboy, with the rest of the Huntsmen acting as shields for him. “I don’t know if I should call you Ulysses or Jack, but we won’t let that guy kill you.” He said to the person behind him.

“Don’t be stupid. This guy is way beyond your league!” The cowboy tried to warn the Huntsmen, but it was already too late as they charged against the stranger. Neptune tried to swing his guandao against him, but the mysterious man dodged the attacks with a few well-coordinated sophisticated movements.

Sage followed up with a flurry of strikes from his big sword, but he was still unable to land a single scratch. Scarlet tried to use both his pistol and cutlass along with a few agile jumps to overwhelm him.

It was futile. All three members weren’t able to land a single hit. The assassin didn’t even try to counter-attack. He meticulously foresaw each of their moves.

At that moment, Sage and Scarlet tried to attack him at the same time from both sides, but he blocked the strikes with his hidden blades. He played around with them as he twisted himself to make the two eager students run into each other.

With a dropkick, Sal sent both Neptune and Sage flying towards Scarlet. He ducked, but by looking away from the enemy, he was left open for an attack. After looking upwards, Jack saw the stranger had to jump into the air, his blades glistening as Sal attempted to stab him. In the blink of an eye, he saw another weapon had intercepted the hidden blades. It was a tomahawk that belonged to the cowboy.

“I told you not to get in my way, didn’t I?” He said while trying to parry the attacker away from the handsome guy. While keeping him busy, Jack swung between his tomahawk and the robotic arm with both of Sal's blades, the clash itself sent sparks flying everywhere. They did nothing but dodge his attacks and hope for the best.

“Jack! Catch!” Penelope yelled as she threw a bandolier toward the cowboy. He quickly noticed and performed a judo move with his robotic arm to get some distance between him and Sal, but also to get some time to breathe. He grabbed the bandolier from the air and wrapped it around his body. It was full of various types of shotgun ammo.

“Lucy! Take the wagon and cross the bridge now! I’ll keep this guy busy!” He shouted at his girlfriend while throwing a barrage of punches at the stranger. The red-haired girl nodded back and took the rope out of Gus’ hands, leading the horse across the bridge.

“Come on! We have to help him!” Neptune changed his weapon into a trident and rushed to the cowboy’s aid. Before he could get any closer, Sage grabbed him by the collar and stopped him from rushing in. “What are you doing!? Sage, we must…”

“No…” The tattooed guy said with a dead-serious tone. “He told us not to interfere. You saw what he could do.”

“But…”

“Sorry, Nep. I would have been a goner if it wasn’t for him.” Scarlet interjected as he touched Neptune’s shoulder. “Let’s just keep Gus and our transport safe while he fights him off. If things go wrong, then we’ll go and help him. Even all of us combined can’t beat that dude.”

The second-in-command didn’t object. He replied with a simple nod, and they chased after the rest of the group through the bridge. They tried to pass safety by checking every plank if there wasn’t any damage. They carefully walked from behind the wagon. The bridge was old enough that it could fall apart any minute.

As the group was still moving forward, the girl was worried sick that her boyfriend had to deal with it alone. No matter how much she wished to go back and help him if something happened to her, Jack would have never forgiven himself.

Back to the fight, the situation was getting heated as both sides were trying to land blows. Jack started swinging his Tomahawk, and at the same time, he pulled the trigger to barrage the assassin with a flurry of bullets. He tried to take advantage of both of his arms to strike any possible blinds spots. Sal wouldn’t let him do that. He wanted to get him with stabs and gunshots, keeping him at bay with punches and hooks.

Jack so far somehow avoided all of his incoming attacks, but one of Sal’s attacks was a roundhouse kick that came at lightning speed. He moved his head without much issue but got too confident and saw something odd coming out of the stranger’s talon. He opened his eyes in surprise as he tried to dodge another hidden blade. It made a nasty cut on his cheek before it avoided his eyes and nose.

“Dammit…Could it be…?” Jack was covering his cut with his right hand. He was shocked that the stranger had more weapons on his boots, but furthermore that they were also capable of piercing his Aura.

“Look at that, so you recognize it too, huh? I hope you’re done with wasting my time.” Sal’s tone of voice felt more taunting than usual. He was confident that he could take Jack down.

“If that’s what you want, then gladly…” The cowboy transformed his weapon back to a revolver, reloading it with more buckshot ammo for good measure. His face started to draw a mean-looking devilish smirk which the stranger found a bit unsettling. Jack also seemed like he was really invested in it. “…If that means cashing all my chips into a battle of life and death, then I’m all in!”

Both opponents were ready to go all in. They felt the heat of the moment as both men had killing intent on their hearts. They ran towards each other with vicious plan. Sal did a cross-slash with his hidden blades but missed. The stranger lost sight of his target as he was attacking him. It was like he evaporated into the air like a ghost. He felt his presence close to him, but still, he couldn’t see him anywhere, not even above him.

“Draw!” He heard the cowboy yell, right behind him. Sal performed a swift back kick and shot another bullet from his talon. He missed again, but he finally caught onto the cowboy’s movements as he frantically stepped around, leaving a trace of black ashes around Sal.

It left the stranger vulnerable for an attack. That allowed Jack to land a sturdy right hook on Sal’s face. The punch was able to go past his Aura. It was a surprise for sure. “How the…!?” Sal noticed something distinctive about Jack’s right hand. He had some odd, but familiar-looking metal infused into his knuckles and palm. “I see. It was stupid of my part not to foresee this.” A small chuckle came through his mask, but he cut it pretty quickly once he got into his fighting stance.

Both of them were pretty aware that every hit could mean death if they weren’t careful.

“We are almost on the other side!” The girl, now referred to as Lucy, led the wagon and the rest of the group across the long old bridge. The further they went along the rickety bridge, the louder the non-stop barking of Lucy’s husky became.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…!” Sage was looking at the woods ahead to see how close they were to the end of the bridge, while the rest of team SSSN focused their sight on the planks, but before they knew it, they got into some even deeper trouble.

“Grimm!?” Gus yelled as a pack of Beowolves was getting closer to them from both sides. The intense battle behind them made enough fuss to attract those foul creatures. It was impossible to turn around now. They had no other choice but to fend them off.

“You know what to do, Scarlet!” Neptune gave an order to the red-head guy. He nodded back while Sage was getting into position with his sword out. Scarlet jumped over Sage, onto the blunt side of his blade, and got launched high into the air.

“My turn…” Sage was getting ready to fight by turning a weird dial on his sword. He threw it against a Grimm, impaling it through the chest. Sage’s body began to glow with a vibrant green Aura, making him teleport towards his sword in an instant. He used the kinetic energy he built up from the teleport to sever the Beowolf in half with one fatal blow. Scarlet bent his arms and fell onto another Grimm, stomping its head on the way down. Using its head as boost, Scarlet shot it. They began to destroy them one by one while making sure none of them would get near the wagon.

Neptune saw more from behind them, trying to get to the bridge, but most of them got drawn towards the fight between Jack and Sal rather than going after the wagon. “This can’t be good. He’ll probably need help against those.” He said with a worried tone.

“No…” Lucy interjected.

“Huh? Why not?”

“He doesn’t need help to deal with him.”

“I meant helping your boyfriend with those Beowolves!”

“He doesn’t need it, just watch.” She insisted while pointing at the other side. Neptune saw those two fighting while being surrounded by more Grimm. They tossed them against each other, swiftly evading them while still fighting each other like as if those foul creatures didn’t even exist. One leaped at the cowboy from behind. He side-stepped and made the Grimm attack the stranger instead. Neptune decided to help Jack by blindly laying some quick suppressive fire with his rifle.

Sal reacted quickly by cutting an incoming Beowolf vertically with a single high kick. Another one came at him from his right with its ferocious claws and bone-crushing bites only to be tossed towards the cowboy. He shot the head, which made it splatter all over the floor while disappearing into the thick black mist. For them, Grimm was nothing but an annoyance.

As Neptune was looking at the fight, he noticed something odd about them. The Grimm weren’t actively trying to attack Jack. It was as if he was invisible to them. All the creatures were only focused on the assassin, but he didn’t overwhelm him thanks to his speed and skill. Sal wasn’t much different. His attention shifted towards the monsters instead of his target.

Surprisingly enough, how they were fighting was almost as if they were cooperating. Their moves were synchronized, and their power seemed equally matched. Indeed a terrifying sight to behold.

At that moment Sal turned his back to decapitate a small Beowolf. Jack saw an opening and threw a punch while he wasn’t looking. Despite having the upper hand, when the cowboy thought his punch connected, Jack was suddenly launched into the air with a strong gust of wind.

The stranger wasn’t impressed since he was looking back at his target. He shot two Grimm that came at him from his left and right, but he didn’t even take his sight off the cowboy. “Nice try, but you won’t be able to lay a finger on me. No matter how many potshots you take.” He said with mockery while cutting another incoming Grimm’s throat wide open with ease. Jack was laying on the ground after getting launched in the air by Sal’s counter.

If what the stranger said was true, then it would undoubtedly require more thought than average to defeat him. Jack was looking around his surroundings. He saw not just packs but entire hordes of Grimm heading in their direction. Jack knew it was nothing but a waste of time and instead focused on keep fighting Sal. He started heading to the bridge, leaving his opponent at the mercy of the incoming Beowolves.

Sal was doing his best, shooting and slashing every Grimm behind him, but with every kill, two more sprung at him out of nowhere. It was impossible to get rid of the pile of Grimm swarming around him. The overwhelming numbers left him almost no room to dodge them. Some managed to get the jump on him and envelop him in a giant pile. The cowboy took advantage of the situation and left him. He was already halfway across the bridge.

Lucy, Gus, and Team SSSN were done protecting the Wagon and were already on the safe ground. Scarlet used the hook and rope coming out of his flintlock pistol to incapacitate some Grimm while Sage tackled them into the river flowing below the bridge. The Grimm fell off the cliff and went downriver at a speed that was hard to get out of it.

After briefly looking behind to see how the stranger was doing, Jack saw glimpses of light coming out of the pile of Grimm. Slowly, their dark inky hides were turned into a stone-like texture, looking as if they were turned to statues. The stranger finally emerged from the pile victorious, breaking all of the petrified pieces of the decimated Beowolves off of him. He was furious.

Everyone was surprised by what they just saw. His outfit was tarnished with claw marks, and his mask wasn’t in good shape either. The most noticeable part Jack saw was that Sal’s right eye was completely exposed due to a broken lens. His iris was bright silver, bordering on being pure white. Sal leaped towards the cowboy, but he jumped above Sal, leaving more black ashes above the assassin. Jack took a shot but missed, only to be high kicked by Sal, almost getting stabbed in the stomach.

An intense breath came out of Jack’s mouth as every fiber in his body felt pain due to Sal’s weapons. He still barely reacted fast enough to dodge the blades. “Trying to run away? You are everything I imagined. Nothing but a coward…” Sal spoke with a screeching metallic voice that was caused by his torn up malfunctioning mask.

“A coward? Maybe, but I ain’t stupid…” Despite looking like he was defenseless, Jack smirked as he looked at the planks below Sal. The hole he made in the plank when he shot his gun earlier became bigger, to the point of cracking and making Sal fall through it. That didn’t stop him while grabbing onto some of the planks and started hanging below the bridge. He advanced quickly and got into position below where the cowboy was standing. Sal shot at him, piercing the planks in the process, forcing Jack to use his Semblance I order to avoid all of the incoming bullets.

“Keep dancing, boy.” Sal said while still shooting at Jack. He had enough and decided to return fire, leaving even bigger holes that left the stranger with almost no more planks to keep hanging below from. Sal knew it wouldn’t last long and got back to crossing the bridge to fight correctly. The bridge was in a worse condition than before. Just one good strike could make it fall apart in seconds.

“How’s he holding up?” Scarlet asked Neptune while still taking care of even more Grimm.

“Not that great, they’re still fighting…” Neptune replied while electrocuting some of those creatures with his weapon in trident mode.

“He better be done soon, because we gotta move on before these mutts call reinforcements,” Sage explained while impaling two Beowolves at the same time. “How’s that old man and the gal doing?”

“Well…Let’s say they don’t need much help.” Neptune replied in a nervous tone as he saw Lucy, Gus, and Saber dealing with the more creatures on their side. The old man was standing over the wagon, shooting with an old shotgun and protecting it. The dog was biting the Grimm, viciously jumping from one to another.

Lastly, the redhead girl shot what appeared to be a harpoon and pierced through a Beowolf’s skull. She shot another Beowolf, this time the impact was so hard it impaled the Beowolf standing behind it and impaled both of the beasts into a sturdy tree. Long, strong metal wires were attached between the weapon and the projectile. She ran around while wrapping the wire around another Beowolf, trying by pulling it until the monster was cut in half by the sharp pressure.

Lucy was a girl that no one would dare mess with.

“Dude, we’re lucky she’s on our side,” Sage remarked to Neptune as both of their jaws fell on the floor.

“She can mop the floor with me any day of the week…” The blue-haired guy said in a quiet tone, swallowing his words out of before anyone heard him.

“What?” Sage was somewhat confused about what he said.

“Nothing…”

“Guys…I want some help here, please?” Scarlet yelled to his teammates as he was shot and sliced a few smaller Grimm. They hurried on his aid, still crushing the hordes of creatures in their path.

Back at the old bridge, the two guys were still battling, blocking each other's attacks. Every time Jack landed a hit on Sal, he got pushed back with more gusts of wind that made it impossible to get close to him. Even with his right hand, he still couldn’t get past his Aura, because the stranger kept parrying it away from him with every move.

The cowboy tried to wrap his head around how his Semblance worked. So far it just countered any physical damage he threw at him. Only one thing was for sure. He was able to punch him in the face without having to deal with the same problem. Unfortunately for the cowboy, the chances of him doing it again were unlikely. He shot his revolver once again while attacking with his right hand.

Sal dodged the blows and waited patiently to lower his guard. He attacked to with by shooting from his weapon on both wrists and ankles while being cautious of the cowboy. Jack started to feel tired as they didn’t stop fighting for a good hour and a half. The stranger took the advantage and rushed with both blades out, ready to strike again.

Jack barely had enough time to react and wasn’t able to avoid the attacks. He received more cuts and bruises from the assassin’s weapon to his chest and arms. He started to bleed out, but his Aura could still keep up with healing him. He retreated a few meters back with his Semblance, but he still wasn’t far enough. “Damn, this doesn’t look good for me…” He muttered while almost falling on his knees. Sal had a lot more stamina. He was standing while reloading his guns.

“Tired? I won't blame you if you are. You are a mere mortal, after all. It’s always been like this since ancient times. People can’t go on for long enough.” Sal said in his usual menacing tone.

“And what the hell are you then? I’m sure you aren’t some immortal being either.” Jack said while putting his gun back to his holster. He never took his sight off the stranger.

“I’m no one. I have but one thing on my mind. To kill every monster in Remnant, including you.” Sal got into position, taking out all his blades, ready to see Jack bleed out for good. The sun was already in place. It was still early in the morning. The sunshine was illuminating; it came right from Jack’s back and engulfed Sal with all of his glory. His blades were reflecting sunlight onto the cowboy.

It wasn’t high noon, but now it became a showdown.

“Look!” Gus called everyone while pointing to the other side of the bridge. A stampede of Beowolfs, Boarbatusks, and Ursai were coming from behind the stranger. Both opponents were either unaware or didn’t care about what was approaching. Team SSSN was about to go after them, but Lucy stopped them from interfering. The girl started to whisper something into Scarlet’s ear. What he heard was a rather unusual but functional plan.

They noticed something odd about Jack’s right hand. His palm started to glow with a faint blue light that emanated from the palm. He got in a position where he was ready to draw his gun with his right, despite being left-handed. They waited patiently until the river’s flow increased. Now the river sounded like the roaring of the ocean.

“Draw…” Sal said on with smug mangled voice as his exposed eye dilated with fury. The stranger threw himself towards Jack while the cowboy didn’t even move from his place. The cowboy threw a right jab and extended his left hand with the open palm. Both stopped the other’s attack. Sal pierced Jack’s left side through with an entire blade and attempted to block his right hand. It seemed like they had reached a stalemate. “Nice try, but playtime’s over.”

“You think so? Then let me ask you something. Do you know what I call my right arm?” Asked the cowboy with snark in his voice, trying the ignore the pain from being stabbed.

“Should I care?” Sal said without caring about what the cowboy was talking about.

“You should because I already have the upper hand.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“This is a Bad Beat!” Jack yelled as he opened his right hand, showing a lively blue light radiate while the arm blurted out a strange noise. It took Sal no more than a second to realize that he was being played for a fool as the robotic palm was directly shoved into his face. He quickly moved his head out of the way, making Jack aim at the hordes of Grimm behind the stranger. Everything went silent as a bright laser blasted away at high speed, going through multiple Grimm that disintegrated one after another.

“Holy…Dust…” Neptune was amazed, and so was the rest of the group. Seeing someone like the cowboy wielding such a destructive weapon. As the struggle was getting worse, the group saw how the bridge began to collapse because the power of the beam created an intense pressure wave underneath Jack and Sal. Both of them fell into the overwhelming stream below them.

“Now!” Lucy yelled to Scarlet, signaling him to shoot his hook and wrap it around Jack’s robotic arm, to save him from the fall. The cowboy was pretty heavy, so the rest of Team SSSN came to help Scarlet pull the rope. Jack was right next to the cliff when he was trying to climb back up with only his left hand, but things weren’t that easy for him.

“What the…Arggg!” His right got stabbed in the earlier and still had a fresh stab wound. As he looked down, he knew that things weren’t going so well.

The cowboy saw that the stranger was holding onto his right leg, his mask was in worse shape than before. The right side of his mask was almost gone fractured and burned from their earlier battle. Jack noticed his left iris was burning red. It was quite unsettling to see what kind of person was beneath the mask. “You think I’m going to let you live? I will chase you to the ends of the world!” Sal yelled with anger, and this time, his real voice. The line made Jack roll his eyes due to how cliché it was.

“You want to kill me that bad? I won’t give you the satisfaction, schmuck.” Jack smirked as he pressed a button on his right shoulder, disengaging the locks from his entire right arm. Sal and Jack fell into the stream, quickly getting dragged on the strong current of the river.

“Jack!” Lucy yelled as she tried to stop his fall. It was already too late as the river was already dragging him and the Sal along the strong stream. The redheaded girl ran towards the horse and released it from the wagon.

“What are you doing!?” Gus asked the desperate girl with a confused look on his face.

“Going after him, what else do you think I’m doing!? That stubborn idiot. Why does he always have to pull stunts like these!?” She was in an urgent state of panic as she was trying to get on the horse and ride it.

“I’ll go with you.” Neptune stepped forward and tried to ride a horse too.

“Hold on, Nep. What’s your plan?” Sage asked Neptune, grabbing him by his jacket.

“I’ll try to get dark and brooding out of the river. I can use my weapon as a pole and get him out of there.”

“But are you sure you want to do that with your you-know-what?” Scarlet was concerned for his teammate. Seeing Neptune be so calm when talking about water was probably the strangest thing he saw all day.

“I’ll be fine, as long as I don’t get too close to the river. Worst case scenario, I’ll try to use my Semblance.” He said while gulping down the last inkling of fear within himself and mustering enough courage to go through with it.

“Are you done talking? I have to go now!” Lucy started riding the horse at full speed. Neptune sat behind her and almost fell from the sudden change in speed. They went down the river, hoping to save the cowboy before he could get killed by the stranger in the water with him.


	4. Divided & Reunited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, this is the final chapter of the First Act, the next story will be the Second Act and it will be much longer. Stay tuned for more updates and hope you enjoyed the first part of the journey.  
> Also, there's a probability on the future to make some updates and corrections for the previous stories. Since English isn't my first language and to bring a better experience.  
> Disclaimer: RWBY Characters, places and terminologies with the exception of the Original Characters, belongs to Rooster Teeth Productions.

“Hiyaaaa!” Lucy repeatedly yelled as she rode the horse at full speed, trying to avoid obstacles like trees and rocks.

“Watch out!” Neptune tried his best not to fall off the horse. “Can’t you be more careful with that thing.”

“Well, why don’t you ride it instead, huh!? Quit whining!” She yelled while still focusing on the river. The Huntsman in training was able to see the cowboy’s body even getting dragged along the river. He couldn't reach land or swim due to his missing right arm. To make matters worse, Sal was trying to reach Jack too by swimming against the current.

Sal saw what Lucy and Neptune were trying to do, and so he started shooting at them instead. Lucy managed to dodge the bullets, all the while trying to calm the horse. “Hey, shoot him back, would you?”

“I-I can’t!”

“Why not!?”

“Do you want me to zap your boyfriend!? All I got are electric rounds!” After hearing Neptune’s complaints, Lucy facepalmed at the point that there was no way for them to defend themselves from harm.

“Oh, this is just great. Of all the oafs I have to take the nerd that can’t even fight back!”

“I’m not a nerd, dammit!” They briefly argued, but they tried their best to stop Sal from reaching Jack. He transformed his weapon and held it by the sharp end, leaving the opposite side free for the cowboy to grab onto, but Sal continued shooting at the horse, making it even harder to reach him. It was impossible to get near Jack as long the stranger had enough reached to fight back.

Jack was trying to help by using his revolver to shoot at Sal, but it was difficult since his gun was soaked. He wanted to make it work despite not being in the condition to fire. Jack tried to change ammo, but the only type that could work were his slug rounds. The cowboy shot at the stranger, but he avoided by diving into the water.

Sal tried to return fire while still being underwater, but his accuracy was greatly affected since he couldn’t see what was before him. The river was full of rocks. The further the two fighters were dragged, the wider the gap between them and the riders became, which made it harder for Neptune to reach Jack.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! I can’t reach him!” The blue-haired guy was getting frustrated at how seemingly impossible it was to help the cowboy.

“Don’t you have any other idea?” Lucy asked while trying to get the horse to top speed.

“I do, but I don’t like it one bit…” Neptune’s tone was full with cowardice and discomfort.

“Well, what are you waiting for!?”

“I-I…Dammit! Fine! But don’t tell anyone, alright!?” The guy was pretty annoyed. He put his weapon on his back, clapped both of his hands together. He slowly extended them forward and formed a transparent barrier. Lucy was confused as to what his Semblance was. How could it be useful in this situation? Neptune created a massive bubble around them.

“Now, I will keep my arms extended for as long as possible while you get near Jack.”

“Sure thing, Bubble Boy.” Despite the slightly mocking name Lucy gave him, she was most impressed by the plan. The girl diverted the horse into the river. The bubble helped them ride on the river. It was as if they were gliding on the surface of the rushing river.

“Get a little closer…” Neptune was using all his energy to keep the bubble stable.

Sal saw what they were doing and tried to shoot once again, but the bubble blocked all of his bullets. Lucy was almost singing with glee, but not Neptune’s case was different. He was feeling quite uneasy, being on the one thing in the world he hates the most. He was desperately trying not to look down. Sal swam towards them instead of going after the cowboy. He tried to burst the bubble with his blades, but it did not affect. The girl moved the horse away from the stranger.

“Don’t push your luck, this bubble through my aura like crazy. The hits don’t help either.” He said as he was starting to feel more exhausted. His arms were shaking, and his mouth was feeling dry. It became tough for him to concentrate.

Jack tried to change the ammo in his revolver with one hand, but because reloading with one arm is difficult, he was only able to put in one crystalized red shell. The cowboy aimed carefully so he wouldn’t hit any of his allies. When Neptune and Lucy were a safe distance between him and Sal, he started to shoot in rapid succession.

“Dragon’s Breathe!” A huge blast of fire came out from his revolver. As it reached the stranger, he dived into the water again. He slowly began to see what awaited him underwater. He saw four slug projectiles torpedoing towards him. Sal tried to swim away from them, but the river’s strong current barely allowed him to avoid them. Miraculously, he dodged all of them except for one, which hit him right in the leg. His aura was already depleted way back on the bridge, so that made him very vulnerable.

“Ugh! You…what the…” Before the assassin could even react even shoot back, he lost sight of where Jack was.

“Where is he!?” Lucy asked in desperation.

“I can’t see him.” Neither Lucy nor Neptune could pinpoint where he was. They tried to move from left to right but couldn’t see if he was underwater or not. They couldn’t see him anywhere. It made Sal feel anxious too since he couldn’t see where he was either. Neptune started to notice some small black strains surface on the water.

“Dammit, where is he…?”

“Right behind you.” Sal heard a deep soft voice behind his back. He soon turned around only to get punched in the face several times. The assassin tried to counter-attack, but Jack swiftly pulled his weapons off his wrists, leaving him unarmed and unable to fight back. The cowboy threw the weapons into the river as he hit Sal in the abdomen with his knees. Jack held onto the stranger by his mask and proceeded to kick him continuously.

Sal was trying to tear him away with all his strength. They struggled as they crashed into more rocks. At that moment, Jack missed one chance to hit him again, which Sal he took advantage of and moved his position right behind the cowboy. He began to strangle him by putting his arms around Jack’s neck. The cowboy tried to free himself, but with one hand it was futile.

“Dieeeee…” The stranger said as he was losing breathe, he was trying to break Jack’s neck, but he wasn’t ready for the sharp rock stabbed Sal into his back. The injury was nowhere close to his vertebral spine, it wasn’t fatal, but it made him lose focus and accidentally release his grip on Jack. The cowboy kicked him away while pushing the rock even further in. Sal reacted quickly, boosting himself away from the rock but now too far to reach Jack.

Neptune and Lucy finally caught and were able to reach Jack. “Grab on!” Lucy was holding Neptune’s weapon while he was still trying to maintain the bubble shield. She extended the other end of the weapon, and Jack used his left hand to grab it. He passed the bubble, leaving all the water that covered his body outside. Sal was trying to get in too since Jack’s lower body was still outside the bubble.

The cowboy let go of the weapon and grabbed Sal’s mask. He kicked him once more. The mask’s straps were getting loose, which forced the stranger to cover his face with one hand. So far, he only got scratches on his pale skin, but the rest of his head was covered in a skintight fabric, still covering his whole face.

Jack climbed to the bubble until his whole body was inside. Lucy transformed the weapon with the flip of a switch into a rifle and shot a few electric rounds at the stranger. Sal got electrocuted and got knocked out. The rest of the river was under the effects of the bubble, which helped the group get safely back to land.

As they reached the edge, Jack looked at his attacker, who was now getting dragged down the river, unsure of how far he’ll keep going. The stranger was someone to be feared. It was hard to imagine what kind of monster had to be hiding behind a mask for so long. He could have looked like a hideous battle-scarred freak, but he could also have just looked like an average guy. Jack wasn’t sure which was more disturbing. Whatever the case was, he was finally gone, and Jack and the gang could finally sigh in relief.

**Sal: Indefinitely lost in the Stream.**

The group finally got back on safe ground. Neptune popped the bubble with painful sensations on his arms. Jack tried to catch his breath after spending too much time in the river and surviving almost being strangled to death. He grabbed his hat and shook it with vigor to dry it off. “Man… that was close.” The cowboy commented as he took off his coat.

“Yeah, I haven’t used my Semblance since my initiation day at Haven.”

“Why not? It seems pretty useful to me.” Jack was confused as to why the blue-haired guy didn’t take full advantage of such an ability.

“Look who's talking, mine looks lame in comparison to yours.”

“Having a cool-looking Semblance doesn’t mean it’s useful. With your bubble, you have so many more opportunities and ways to accomplish things that I do.” Jack was trying to compliment him, but Neptune didn’t care for that, although he appreciated the validation. Everyone got out pretty dry thanks to the bubble’s repelling effects, but Jack was still coughing up some water he had inside him. The cowboy noticed his girlfriend was quiet after he got on the ground. “What’s the matter, Lucy?”

The girl had drops rolling down her face. Jack wondered if she got her hair wet while the bubble was inactive. She got off the horse and started walking towards the cowboy. With one fast movement, she slapped her boyfriend across the face with tears on her face. “What’s the matter with you!? You want to die?! What were you thinking?! Do you have any idea of how I felt!? What do you think I’d do without you, you… moron!?” She was stumbling between her words, trying to keep her calm while her green eyes shed tears along with her angry and upset face.

Jack stood up and slowly hugged Lucy with his left arm, trying to comfort her. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry for scaring you like that. You know I couldn’t risk you or anyone else getting caught up in my business. You…are important to me. ”

“I-I know… but… Saber would have been so sad.” The girl tried to act like she had regained her composure, but snarky comments alone couldn’t conceal her true feelings. Jack saw right through her facade.

“You know I can’t change that part of me. No matter how many times I do this, this is who I am. For you, it’s always worth it to go all in.” As Neptune listened to their conversation, he noted that Jack’s words reeked of guilt. He looked at the ground and peered at Sal’s broken mask lying next to him.

“Sorry to interrupt you but look at this.” Neptune grabbed the mask and showed it to the couple. Jack tried to grab it until the blue-haired guy moved away from him, not letting him even get near it. “I’ll give it to you, but my team and I want to hear the rest of the story. You have some explaining to do.”

“I don’t need to explain anything..” Jack tried to grab the mask by force but stopped because Lucy was still holding onto his hand, hugging his arm with a firm hold on it. “What are you doing?”

“Please, we no longer have to hide it from them. You know they’ll understand.” Lucy tried to persuade Jack that they can trust Team SSSN with their problem. The cowboy was hesitant, but he listened to her suggestion. He sighed.

“Alright, I’ll tell you just the important parts until we get back to the wagon. Understood?” The blue-haired guy nodded, Jack led the horse with Lucy on top of it, and Neptune walked beside him. The walk was quite long. It took them about 30 minutes to get back to the wagon. Sage and Scarlet were standing on guard, watching for more Grimm. Gus was sitting on his wagon, and Saber was sleeping next to him on the passenger’s side. They’ve been waiting for quite some time.

“Welcome back, how was the water?” Sage mockingly said while crossing his arms.

“Humor never was your scene, Sage. For your information, I didn’t even get wet.” Neptune replied as he put his weapon with the rest of their belongings.

“So... that means you finally used your Semblance? I’m sure that wasn’t bad after so long.” Scarlet commented while using a wet stone to sharpen his cutlass. Lucy helped Gus strap the horseback to the wagon. Scarlet grabbed something next to the wheel. “Do you need a hand?” He was carrying Jack’s right arm. It made the cowboy chuckle.

“Oh, you guys are funny. I’ll ask the Mistral Theatre if they’re looking for comedians. But seriously, put it back with the rest of the luggage.” Jack walked without taking the arm back. The Huntsmen were left confused.

“Uhhh…Don’t you need it?” Neptune asked.

“That thing? It’s out of juice after doing that light show from back there. Getting it attached is nothing but dead weight.” He nonchalantly said as he hopped on the transport and sat next to the lovely husky. Jack sneezed as soon as the husky settled in.

The rest of the group packed everything up, and the wagon resumed its journey back on the road. Everyone looking at the couple in silence. Their eyes were telling everything and asking questions without words. Lucy was using bandages to patch up Jack’s left hand with special medicine. It felt irritating but helped his Aura heal faster. Scarlet wanted to ask first but was mostly afraid. Sage had a difficult time trying to choose his words carefully.

“So…let’s start all over again. Who are you?” Neptune was the one asking the question.

“I told you, our names don’t matter, at least now.”

“Please…” The redhead girl looked in the cowboy’s eyes, pretty much telling him to answer Neptune. Jack tried to say it in a nonserious way so that it’d be easier for them to digest.

“Fine, I’m a dead man anyway. As you heard from… him. My name is Jack Spades, and I am the leader of Team JAQK. She is Lucy Carmine, the former member of team LUUX. We were students of Atlas Academy. The long-short story, I’m a wanted man there, but I was framed of things like treason, murder, conspiracy, and sabotage. Think there’s arson in there somewhere... the point is, I don’t give a shit about what you think, but I’m on my way to Mistral to lay low and gather some clues about the ones that set me up in Vale.” After the dense loaded explanation, everyone was on the same page.

“You know, we could help you with…” Before the blue-haired guy could say anything, he got interrupted by the cowboy who extended his left arm as a sign to stop.

“No…” He said bluntly. “The last time I let someone gets involved in my business...” He slowly pointed to where his right arm used to be. “This… is what happened. And that’s not all. That person died, and it was all my fault. I have been carrying that burden for two years. I couldn’t even sleep properly. Look, if you want to live, I suggest you don’t dig any deeper.” Jack was dead serious when he warned Neptune, mostly for his sake.

“Then why are you telling us all this if it could get us in trouble?” Sage asked, not very happy with what the cowboy just said.

“If I told you now before you do get involved, then you might have a chance of getting off the hook before it’s too late.” The mood got heavy as he got on the defensive.

“We can help you. We’re Huntsmen after all…”

“HUNTSMEN AREN’T HEROES! YOU’RE JOB ISN’T TO SOLVE PEOPLE’S PROBLEMS!” There was quiet; the cowboy’s voice was loud enough to scare away the birds outside. A strong echo resonated through the wagon. Everyone looked at Jack with their eyes wide open as a feeling of dread blasted through their spines. Gus wasn’t expressing any of that, but his face had a very disappointed look.

“Jack…your eye,” Lucy said in a concerned tone to her boyfriend, trying to hold his hand. The cowboy started to notice his right eye was twitching. He touched it with his left hand and slowly curled his fingers. He has felt a deep sense of shame. He lowered his head and covered his face with his hat.

“Look, maybe we can’t solve your situation, but we can keep your secret while if you stay in Mistral.”

“How can I be sure you won’t sing like a canary if a knife as much as brushes your neck, Bubble Boy?” Jack replied with a fierce look in his eyes, Neptune didn’t even flinch or get intimidated.

“Don’t call me that, I may be a bit of coward, but not I’m not someone who would betray anyone’s word.” Much to the surprise of the rest of team SSSN, they never saw Neptune behave like this, taking a firm position on the situation and radiating with confidence. Jack only replied with a weak smile.

“Do you think you have the balls to be on my level, Bubble Boy?”

“I’m 100% sure of it, cowpoke.” Their heads were on the same level, neither of them blinked for a while. Sage wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to stop them, but Lucy told them that it would be better not to get in their way. Jack drew his revolver and shot in the road’s direction, right behind the wagon. Everyone focused their sight on the road. Suddenly they saw something fall off the tree. Saber started growling as she felt the presence of the Grimm. Not much to their surprise, the thing that fell from the tree was a pretty large pack of raging Beowolves.

“I’ll ask you again, do you have the balls to be on my level? Then think of a way to escape from those things!” The cowboy didn’t turn to see the road like the rest of them. He decided to show off and shoot the Grimm without even looking. The rest of the passengers were left impressed. “You know how it works. Those mutts are attracted to negative emotions. I want to hear how you plan on escaping them in one piece. Come on, show me.”

More Grimm appeared on the road, with Ursai and Boarbatusks behind them, making the spinning attacks they’re renowned and feared for. Sage told Gus to increase the speed of the horses while Lucy and Scarlet shot at the deadly creatures. Jack didn’t do anything. He just kept sitting like as if nothing happened. His level of composure was on par with veteran Huntsmen.

Neptune shot some Grimm in the distance, but the Beowolves were using the Ursai like steeds. The Beowolves used the Ursai as stepping points to jump onto the wagons. Sage slew the ones in the air while Scarlet stabbed one, leaving it hanging from the edge of the wagon. The redhead guy shot it in the head and watched it roll on the ground and turn into mist. Gus pulled out his old shotgun and shot one of the Ursa in the eye, blinding it and giving Lucy a chance to use her Semblance and strike it in the back, paralyzing it. The Ursa tripped as it’s leg shortly stopped working, making the Grimm behind it stumble and crash like a bicycle race gone wrong.

Pretty soon they reached a fork in the road. A sign in the middle read ‘MISTRAL’ and ‘KUCHINASHI’ from left to right. Neptune was looking ahead of the road, trying to squint at the signs from a long distance. It didn’t take him more than 2 seconds to choose. “To the right!” He ordered to Gus.

“Are you crazy!? Mistral’s in the opposite direction!” Sage was upset at his teammate’s choice.

“Trust me. I have a plan.”

“Are you sure? We could be safer if we went the other way.” Scarlet asked while fencing some Grimm off the transport.

“No, if we go down the Mistral road, we might endanger people along the way!” Gus explained, clarifying that Neptune’s choice was the right one to take. They kept advancing along the uneven roads that went in zigzags and over rocky terrain. All the passengers were trying to keep the wagon balanced enough so that they wouldn’t lose speed, although the horses were starting to get tired.

“Okay, what’s next?” Sage asked Neptune as he was shooting smaller Grimm with his rifle.

“If memory serves, we should be going through a tunnel.”

Neptune explained as he tried to show the map to Gus.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, kid.” The coach remarked as he followed the road. They were finally able to take a short break. Most of the Grimm was pretty far away from them now. Everyone took their seats and started to discuss Neptune’s plan.

“Ok, this is what we’re gonna do. The incoming tunnel ain’t long, but since it goes through a hill, it should be impossible for the Grimm to climb. The tunnel has a lot of interconnected wooden timbering, so…”

“Wait a sec, Nep. Are you suggesting…?” Scarlet just realized where this was going.

“Yep. We’re going to set the tunnel on fire.”

“This plan blows, but I like that attitude. Count me in!” Sage’s voice gave confidence to the temporary leader.

“I want to see how this goes.” Scarlet didn’t complain about the plan either. The cowboy kept listening in on the details. He was intrigued to see it come to fruition.

“Ok, since the tunnel isn’t long enough, Jack and Lucy are going to soak it with oil from the inside. Hopefully, the fire will burn most of them, and that should give us enough time to blow the exit of the tunnel up. But we must leave the wagon to keep the Grimm busy while the rest wait for us on the other side. We must act quickly if we don’t want to be roasted with them.”

“I hope I don’t get oil in my boots,” Scarlet said with a worried tone.

“You and your boots.” Sage snidely remarked as he was getting his sword ready.

“Just don’t expect me to save your butt if this plan goes sideways, Bubble Boy,” Jack warned Neptune, sitting as if nothing happened.

“Don’t worry about us. We can handle this ourselves. We’re Huntsmen in training after all.” Jack rolled his eyes at Neptune’s statement. At the moment they were entering the tunnel entrance. Team SSSN left the wagon, and the rest went inside. Neptune and Scarlet were recharging their weapons. The wagon went inside the tunnel without the three SSSN members, spilling oil on the walls as they went along.

“Alright, time to rock ‘n roll dudes!” The team was getting ready as the horde of Grimm was approaching.

“Couldn’t think of anything cheesier, Neptune?” Sage commented as he and Scarlet snickered. Neptune didn’t mind. He felt like a new man and prepared for some action. With two Boarbatusks already charging at them, Sage went on the defensive while Neptune and Scarlet pointed their guns at the enemy from behind him. Once the Grimm went flying at them, Sage blocked both of them let his teammates shoot them, which made them bounce back to the rest.

Sage threw his sword at an Ursa, impaling its shoulder. The tattooed Huntsman grabbed Neptune by the arm, and soon both of them teleported to the Ursa. Neptune cut its head off as they lunged themselves to fight the rest of the inky black creatures. A Beowolf tried to swing its claws at Sage, but its arm got entangled by a rope attached to a hook. Scarlet used his weapon to pull himself towards the monster, slashing it into pieces. Sage and Scarlet high-fived each in their small victory.

Neptune swung his guandao at the packs of Beowolves. From left to right, they were being sliced in half like butter. While everyone was busy fighting, the small Beowolf hiding in the trees jumped off and caught Neptune off guard. The blue-haired guy was on the ground but still managed to use his weapon to keep his distance and not get his face bitten off. “Guys! A little help here!?” He yelled for aid, but the situation was getting a little frantic.

“In a moment, just let me get those things off me first!” Sage said as more and more Beowolves and Boarbatusks were surrounding him. He was pretty busy, and they were pretty hard to get through.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHG…!” Scarlet, on the other hand, was being dragged along the ground by the hooked Ursa. It was running around, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. Things weren’t going so great for Neptune. He couldn’t get help from his team. It appeared they all had their hands full.

As the Beowolf over Neptune was biting on his weapon, Neptune was getting overwhelmed. He was unable to get the creature off of him. As the monster nearly chewed his face-off, a slug projectile came out of the cave, destroying the Grimm’s jaw. The Beowolf turned to see who did it, only to receive a clean tomahawk chop to the neck. The head fell clean off and started vanishing into the mist. “Trouble? Not going as you planned it, huh?” A deep voice said as Neptune was getting back on his feet.

“What? I thought you weren’t gonna help us.” Neptune said to Jack, who was now standing beside him with his tomahawk in his left hand.

“I still owed you one for getting me out of the water.” The cowboy threw his hat away, letting it land on the floor next to the cave’s entrance. “Besides, what’s a team without a fourth member?” Jack smirked as he transformed his weapon back to a revolver.

“You sure you can fight one-handed?” Neptune asked while transforming his weapon into a trident.

“Are you sure you can fight two-handed? Besides, maybe that'll make things more interesting.” Jack’s confidence made Neptune a little concerned. He didn’t seem to care about the danger.

“Lucy must be freaking out right about now, right?”

“She’s probably losing her mind. All I have to do is not die.” He said casually. A Boarbatusk was rolling at the cowboy. He didn’t move from his place. “I don’t have time for you, piggy!” He was slowly getting into position as the Grimm got closer. In a split second, Jack kicked it like a soccer ball. Its trajectory knocked it into the Ursa running towards them. It tripped and gave Scarlet the opening to slay it while it was still down.

“Thanks for the help.” The redhead guy thanked the cowboy. He replied with a nod as the rest continued fighting and helped Sage with the Grimm surrounding him. Jack changed his ammo type and started shooting alongside Neptune and Scarlet. Together they took out the Grimm pretty quickly.

“That was close,” Sage commented as he finally got some room to breathe.

“I don’t think we’re done,” Jack said as another wave of Grimm was going after them. Everyone reloaded their guns and got ready for one more round. Four weakened and tired out Huntsmen against three Ursai, seven Beowolves, and four Boarbatusks. The odds weren’t stacked in their favor.

The first Beowolf tried to slash the cowboy. He ran towards it and slid underneath it, shooting it in the chest. It flew into small pieces like a massive hole through it. Jack saw one behind him, so he used his Semblance to position himself behind it’s back and used his gun’s grip to bash it in the head.

Scarlet followed up with multiple slashes to the head and finished it with a point-blank shot. Another Boarbatusk charged at him, but he dodged the attack and snared it with his hook and rope. He used the creature’s strength and speed to spin it in circles, hitting more Beowolves in the process. After two good spins, he released the Grimm and launched it at an Ursa.

Sage threw his sword and impaled an Ursa and a Boarbatusk in the stomach. He got himself close and cut the Boarbatusk in half. The Ursa suffered a major injury. It started fighting back with biting and started swinging its claws around. Sage parried it and patiently waited for the perfect counter. As the Ursa tried to make an overhead attack, it left itself wide open. The tattooed guy reacted by cutting its arm and kicking it in the face.

Lastly, Neptune stabbed the Ursa in the stomach with his trident and unleashed an electric charge on its whole body. While impaling it, the blue-haired guy used the Grimm’s body as mace and swung it against the rest of the wave. The creatures got electrocuted on contact, stunning them and leaving them defenseless.

With all the cards on the table, everyone went all-in on the final strike, attacking all the Grimm at the same time. The Huntsmen were shooting and slashing their way through the hordes. Heads were rolling, and limbs went flying at an unimaginable speed.

They were like lighting, straying from the thunder, they indeed looked like miracles of ancient wonders, like those praised in songs and old fairy tales.

After a few moments, they stopped fighting. Everyone, including the Grimm, didn’t move. They behaved like statues, still and passive. Everything became silent except for the screech of an eagle flying over them. In mere seconds, the Grimm were falling to their knees like dominos and quickly disappeared into a vast cloud of black mist that looked like smoke from a fire.

They were done fighting the important wave. While there were more incoming, it gave them enough time to prepare and go back to the wagon. From the other side of the tunnel, they heard an unstoppable barrage of loud barks from the loyal husky. “Hey, hey, hey, that’s our cue!” The cowboy said as they ran inside the tunnel soaked in oil.

The ground was slippery, which made it hard for them to run correctly. Everything went just as planned. Neptune created a bubble for the whole team. It let the gang to run along with the liquid without tripping or slipping, rolling the bubble-like a moderately sized hamster ball. They ran as fast as the bubble allowed in the small space. The light at the end was getting bigger. They were able to see the exit get bigger with each step forward.

“We’re out, boys!” Jack yelled as the group jumped out of the tunnel with Grimm following them. They tried to run, jump, and even charge, but it became impossible due to the slippery oil that covered everything. They were trapped inside the tunnel. “They’re not going anywhere, who’s gonna burn those suckers?” Jack asked.

Team SSSN were looking at each other. They agreed with a simple nod. “Do you want to do the honors?” Neptune asked, which made the cowboy smile devilishly. He started looking at Lucy, and she brought him his prosthetic arm and jammed it in its place. She carefully connected the nerves between the shoulder and the arm. A small noise from his arm noted that it was on.

“It’ll be my pleasure,” Jack said as Lucy finished fixing the arm in place. He walked up to the tunnel leaving a trail of oil on the ground. He used the lighter in his thumb and used it to ignite the fire, making it spread through the whole tunnel. The Grimm was being burned alive y and started accidentally killing each other in the fire due to the confusion. They screamed in pain and slowly fell one by one until everything looked like the inside of a smelting furnace. The Grimm behind them retreated before they could burn alive.

At last, they were free from danger.

“WOOOOHOOOOO! Take that!” Neptune shouted in satisfaction. He and his team started to do a ridiculous victory dance. Gus and Lucy looked at each other with unamused looks while Jack started howling in laughter at how ridiculous it was. It gave the cowboy this nostalgic feeling he hadn’t felt in quite some time.

“What are you laughing at?” Lucy asked.

“Nothing, it’s just… they’re just like Ace after winning a fight.” Jack said. It caught Neptune’s attention.

“You know, you’ve been mentioning this Ace guy. Who is he? Your teammate?” Neptune asked the cowboy. The cowboy drew a warm smile.

“He’s my brother… one hell of a guy if I must say.”

“I hope to meet him and the rest of your team when we get to Mistral.”

“Good. Maybe he could give you some tips on how to actually hit on girls” Lucy hit her boyfriend with her elbow on his back.

“Ow.”

Everyone, including Gus, gave out a hearty laugh.

“Nah, I think I’m just gonna stick to my material.” Neptune politely refused the cowboy’s offer.

“Too bad, I was hoping you would learn and try again. Your best attempt wasn’t great so far, Bubble Boy.” Lucy said in a sarcastic tone. It made Neptune switch his mood instantly.

“Stop calling me that, dammit!” It seemed no one could stop laughing. It was a sweet moment they all shared for a while.

“Alright everyone, we’ve had enough fun for one day. We should hit the road and find a way to get back to Mistral. Luckily for us, we’re not too far from the city, but we’ll need to take the long route.” Gus told the teenagers as they hopped back to the wagon. They took their seat and started stretching their arms and legs. It was a busy day, but it was an exciting way to conclude the last day of spring.

* * *

 After taking the detour to the capital, they slowly approached an inn in the woods. It was 7:22 pm, so everyone was using their lanterns and flashlights. Jack, Lucy, and Saber took their belongings and left the wagon. “Aren’t you coming with us? We’re still an hour away from Mistral.” Sage asked the couple.

“It’s alright. We’re gonna wait for my team here. This is where we go our separate ways.”

“Are you sure? I can leave you off in the city if you want.” Gus’ words made everyone a little confused.

“What? I thought you were afraid of getting anywhere near the gate.” Lucy commented about the old man’s odd choice.

“I was, but after seeing you youngsters trying to fight for your lives and live every second of your life, it made me realize something. I don’t know how much time I have left in this world, but I think I’d rather spend my last moments with my granddaughter, back at home.” Gus’ resolution made everyone aww for a brief moment. It made them happy that he’d no longer have to risk his life outside the city.

“That’s nice to hear, old man. Good luck with your granddaughter.” Jack replied with sincerity as he tipped his hat.

“Thank you. And since you are going to stay at Mistral, there’s a chance we’re probably gonna see each other again.”

“How can you be so sure?” Jack asked.

“Well, you can say I know Mistral like the back of my own hand.” The couple was curious about what was referring to, but nonetheless, Gus and Team SSSN parted ways with Jack and Lucy. They saw the couple and their dog walk towards the inn.

Neptune remembered something and called Jack out for a moment. The cowboy turned to Neptune, and the blue-haired guy threw something in the air. Jack caught it. It was Sal’s mask, just as promised. They thanked each other without saying a word, and they got back to their own business.

“Dude, I can’t wait to tell Sun about this!” Scarlet commented as he accidentally dropped his Scroll on his seat. As he was looking at the floor, he noticed shiny stains on the top of his boots. “Aww man, I did get oil on my boots.” He said with disappointment in his eyes.

“It was unavoidable. We risk our lives every day for the people of this land, but sometimes we lose something even more valuable.” Neptune’s Scroll started to ring. “Who’s calling me? Wait, is he…?” He looked at the photo of the caller. It was a pretty delightful surprise.

“Is that Sun!? I thought he was in Menagerie.” Sage replied. It was easy to assume he was in Mistral due to the current CCT problems. Neptune pressed the button and answered the call.

_“Yo! Where are you guys!?”_

“Hey Sun, when did you get back to Mistral?” Neptune asked his Leader.

_“I arrived just yesterday, and it’s a long story. Where are you? I couldn’t find you anywhere around Haven!”_

“We went off for a useless mission. There was trouble on our way back, but we’re almost there. We have a long story too that you’re gonna love. Wait for us at the main gate in about an hour.”

 _“Alright! See ya’ all there!”_ Sun finished the conversation the call. Hearing Sun talk made the team realize that Mistral was probably fine. Finally, some good news. It gave everyone in the wagon some relief. In the end, it felt like things were going to go their way once they get to the city.

* * *

 Once inside the Inn, the couple walked towards the bartender that was serving some drinks while the waitress picked took them upstairs. He noticed the couple had a dog that was following them. “Hey! No dogs allowed!” He warned them. Jack looked at him with a mean look in his eyes. Those baby blue eyes of his became golden in an instant. It freaked the bartender out. “Oh…umm, you know, y-you can keep her inside as long she doesn’t bother any customers.”

“Thank you, and I would like to request a room for one night,” Jack spoke with a softer voice, to not make things any more uncomfortable for the bartender.

“You will have to wait for the waitress. She has the keys.” After the man said that, he was trying to look around to see where she was. “Damn, why is she taking so long?” He was getting impatient as Lucy was hearing noises coming from upstairs. Some people were having way too much fun. She saw the waitress walking downstairs. “Where have you been? What took you so long?!”

“I’m sorry, but one of those guys told me one of his stories. They sounded pretty exaggerated if I have to be honest. There was another one that looked like trouble. A guy with a scar on across his jaw and a guy with glasses asked for peanuts. Those guys are a weird and lively bunch.” Despite the bartender’s confused look on his face, the couple was shocked after hearing what the waitress said.

“Excuse me, but just out of curiosity, did that guy with the stories try to flirt with you?” Lucy asked the waitress. She started blushing as Lucy mentioned him.

“W-well, he is quite charming, though I’m afraid he’s too young for me. I wouldn’t mind hearing more of his stories though~” She was behaving very unprofessionally, but it gave the couple an idea about the people upstairs.

“Anyways, you said you wanted a room, right?”

“Actually, just bring us two drinks to the same room upstairs,” Jack said while he gleefully rushed upstairs. Lucy and Saber followed him, leaving the bartender with a few unanswered questions.

“Hold on a sec, young man. Do you know those guys!?” The man asked.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…but they’re family after all.” He said as if it was nothing. They slowly approached the second floor. Saber got ahead of them and stopped in front of a door. She sat and awaited her owners to get to her. She sensed familiar smells inside the room. The couple started hearing voices on the other side.

“I’m telling you! We flew like birds, dude!” A jovial voice kept yelling.

“That’s not how you use metal plates, dumbass!” Another voice with a gruffer tone berated the jovial storyteller.

“But what else could they be used for? We think they work better as snowboards rather than shields.”

“Why didn’t you stop him from doing that, Four-Eyes!?”

“I couldn’t do much. He tried to find a better solution for our predicament.” A third voice chimed in. He sounded much calmer and reasonable than the rest.

“Don’t be so modest, partner. You had as much fun as we did.”

“T-That’s not quite true…”

“AHA! So, you were part of the problem too! Do you know how much trouble I went through just to get you those things for protection? And you used them as your playthings. What’s the matter with that!?”

“To my partner’s defense, he did use it to save himself and Velvet from being shot with an energy weapon.”

“OHHHH! THAT EXPLAINS THE FRICKING HOLE IN IT! YOU SON OF A….!” Before the aggressive guy could say anything else, the three guys went silent as they turned their eyes at the door that was slowly opening. The familiar faces that entered brought both surprise and joy to the people inside. Jack, Lucy, and Saber entered the room.

“Bro! Lucy! Nice to see you again!” The jovial voice belonged to a guy with dark skin and a green bandana on his head. He greeted them with open arms. “You too, Saber.” He started petting the husky on the head as she wandered under the table and rubbed her face along his leg.

“What took you so long!? Finally some sane people around here. Any more and I would have started strangling these bozos next to me!” A well-built guy with a scar on the left side of his jaw said as he downed one huge glass of liquor. Despite his abrasive nature, he was thankful for the couple’s presence.

“Glad you made it. Hope you didn’t have any issues on your way here.” The last guy with blue glasses and camo fatigue clothes greeted them with a simple hand wave. Cool, and collected as usual.

“There were a few roadblocks along the way. How about we tell you now? I’d also like to hear about everything you had as well.” Jack and Lucy took a seat next to the jovial guy, filling the table thoroughly with everyone around it. The cowboy put his hat on the table and waited for the waitress to bring them their drinks. After months of being separated ever since the Fall of Beacon, they finally got a heartwarming reunion.

“Team JAQK is back, baby!” Blurted Ace in excitement.

End of Act 1. 

To be continued, in _It's Always Sunny in Paradise_... 


End file.
